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The ‘IP for Smart Objects’ or ‘IPSO’ Alliance, an organization that holds interoperability tests, documents the use of new Internet Protocol or ‘IP’ based technologies, conducts marketing activities and serves as an information repository for users seeking to understand the role of IP in networks of physical objects, has announced that it has entered a partnership with the IPv6 Forum to promote a common platform of interoperability based on the IPv6 Ready Logo Program, and thereby help in harmonized deployment of Internet of Things or ‘IoT’ based on IPv6.

The IPv6 Forum is a consortium of Internet service vendors, National Research & Education Networks or ‘NRENs’ and international ISPs, that aims at promoting IPv6 by improving market and user awareness, creating a quality and secure Next Generation Internet and allowing worldwide equitable access to knowledge and technology.

After the new partnership, members of the IPv6 forum will be able to benefit from the awareness offered by the IPSO alliance, and co-ordinate the initiative by sharing essential knowledge in their key events and by seeking and designing new joint initiatives on a worldwide basis.

According to Latif Ladid, President of the IPv6 Forum & Emeritus Trustee Internet Society, IPv6 is a solid base for the Internet of Things or ‘IoT’, and the IPSO alliance and its support to the IETF work on ROLL and 6LoWPAN will enable IoT devices and apps to scale and interoperate igniting future end-to-end innovation and invention of next-generation services and apps not even imagined today.

In the words of Patrick Wetterwald, President of IPSO Alliance, the Internet Protocol and specifically IPv6 are key to the networking of smart objects, and it’s delightful to see the two organizations working together on interoperability test suites and certification programs leveraging the best of class IPv6 ready logo program. Wetterwald noted that this will dramatically help this industry to scale to a worldwide range.

Yanick Pouffary, NAv6TF Technology Director, IPv6 Forum Fellow and Chairperson at IPv6 Forum Logo Programs commented that this partnership between the IPv6 Forum and IPSO is a very important milestone for IoT based on IPv6, as it will enhance the IPv6 Ready Logo program, industry-standard measure of IPv6 capability and interoperability, to include test categories for devices, like IP based smart objects, with non-Ethernet based access media.

In September the IPSO Alliance announced its new compliance and certification program, which was aimed at accelerating the use of IP in embedded smart objects such as sensors and actuators in a wide range of emerging application areas that include smart grid and energy management, building automation, urban infrastructure, industrial and process automation, healthcare, and home automation.